


Sonnet 20

by bananafishings



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ash is smooth and Eiji is in love, Awkward Flirting, Cute, Drinking, Fluff, Gay Panic, M/M, Meet-Cute, Tipsy Eiji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-06-30 20:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15758850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananafishings/pseuds/bananafishings
Summary: In which Ash and Eiji first meet at a bar all thanks to Shorter's divine intervention.Eiji was not prepared for this.





	Sonnet 20

It’s late into the night, the music is loud, and the place is crowded. Eiji is wondering how the hell he even convinced himself into coming out tonight to this kind of place.

“This kind of place” being a gay bar in the outskirts of the city.  


See, it wasn’t even that long ago that Eiji had finally admitted to himself that he just liked guys, a lot. He liked guys so much so that Eiji figured maybe it was time to put himself out there.

The trouble was that Eiji has zero experience putting himself out there. Or even being at bars. He didn’t know how that worked either. Hell, he never had even been in a relationship before. He just figured that a gay bar was probably a good place to start meeting people, from what he read online.

So that brings him to his current situation. Sitting all by himself, at the _Salon Lizzie_ , trying to work up the courage to talk to somebody. However, he’s just too damn nervous, feeling awkward even being there. So, for now, he just orders a screwdriver from the bartender. When the drink comes to him, he downs it in one shot even though he never really was one for drinking.

But drinking it now, he thinks it actually doesn’t taste that bad. It also helps keep down the anxiety.

Between the time it takes for Eiji to order another shot and for it to come, a few things happen.

Two seats away from where Eiji is sitting, two guys approach the bar and sit down. The one that’s further away is a tall guy wearing shades (inside a dark bar?) with a stylish purple mohawk and shaved sides. He looks exactly like someone Eiji would never approach first, just because he looks like someone that’s too cool to even exist on the same plane as him.

Then there’s the guy that’s closer to Eiji.

_Oh no. Oh no. Fuck._

This guy, well.

His blond hair stands out to Eiji first. It’s long and it flows nicely around his ears and down his neck. The blond guy also has nice green eyes that look sharp, yet something about them also seems kind.

He has a really nice build, like he works out. The tight white shirt he’s wearing draws Eiji further into the mysterious blond man, and then he short circuits when he notices that the dude is wearing very nice fitted jeans as well.

_Oh god, oh god, there’s a hot guy near me and I can’t stop staring at him and I hope he doesn’t notice that I’m staring at him because yeah, he’s cute and what if he thinks it’s weird that I’m staring at him?_

The guy glances over at Eiji, and their eyes meet.

Eiji prays to whatever God out there that he didn’t hear the startled “Ah!” that just came out of his mouth over the loud music.

Blushing up to his ears, Eiji conspicuously looks away and downs the other shot.

_Fuck, he definitely saw._

...

While Eiji has his own little meltdown in his side of the bar, Ash and Shorter look at each other.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Ash asks his friend, clearly interested.

“I don’t know man, maybe I should go talk to him?” Shorter says, genuinely worried about the mystery black-haired guy who’s currently holding his face in his hands.

“Do whatever you want, I won’t hold you back.” Is all that Ash says as he waves the bartender over, cool as ever.

Shorter shrugs, and then he gets up from his seat to talk to this guy.

He looks terrified when Shorter sits next to him.

“Hey dude, relax, I’m not going to rob you or anything. Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Eiji replies, confused now, but at least it looks like he’s calming down.

“Yeah like, are you good? Didn’t drink too much or anything?”

Eiji wants death to take him right then and there. “Oh, oh no, I’m okay. I was just… having a moment.” He says lamely. There was no saving him.

“Ah, well that’s good to hear. Name’s Shorter, by the way,” he continues, “what brings you here? Sorry if I’m seeing it wrong, but it looks like you’d rather be somewhere else.”

 _Well, he’s not wrong._ Eiji thinks.

“I was just… looking around. And I’m okay. Thank you for worrying about me though.” Eiji says, a grateful smile on his face.

Shorter begins to think. _He’s pretty._ Definitely Ash’s type. Though he knows Ash would never admit his type is the pretty and awkward ones, he knows his best friend better than he knows himself. And this dude is adorable, with his nice black hair and innocent eyes.

“It’s no problem man. Also, I’ll be going now, to get something for you.” Shorter gets up abruptly and leaves. Eiji wondering where he’s going.

Shorter goes back to Ash and whispers in his ear. “Hey, go talk to that guy if you need me I’ll be upstairs. He’s cute, I promise.”

Before Ash can even ask what the fuck he’s doing, Shorter leaves, a slight spring in his step.

Ash sighs.

This wouldn’t be the first time that Shorter had picked a random guy for Ash to talk to at a bar. Usually Ash would ignore it, but.

He looks over and the other guy is clearly trying not to look at him.

Well, this guy does seem his type, judging by looks. Ash also thinks that he’s pretty good at reading people; and this black-haired man looks out of place, but he seems like a good person. Harmless and well-meaning.

So, he picks himself up to go sit next to the appealing stranger.

He holds down the laugh pretty well when he hears an “Eh!” coming out of the younger looking man.

“So what’s your name? My name is Ash.” He says turning his whole body to look at Eiji, smiling when he sees the blush on the other man’s face.

“It… It’s Eiji. It’s nice to meet you.” he says, finding it really hard to make eye contact but trying his hardest.

“You’re really cute, Eiji.” Ash says and Eiji is on fire.

“Oh, thank you. I’m sorry. I don’t do this a lot, so—” Eiji begins, but Ash cuts him off.

He waves his hand, “Don’t worry about it. Just tell me a little about yourself? I’m a good listener. Promise.”

Eiji finally smiles, and Ash thinks about how Shorter was right this time.

...

They make easy conversation after that; Ash flirting and Eiji getting flustered, but every time Eiji flashes a wide smile his way he gets a little nervous as well.

They’ve taken a couple more shots together, or actually, a lot more shots. Ash is nearing his limit, and by the looks of it Eiji might have hit it already.

He had noticed that Eiji was getting more comfortable talking the longer the night went on. And now Eiji is for sure tipsy, or maybe just drunk. He’s flushed red and starting to talk really fast and excitedly, and Ash hates how he finds that endearing. He feels like he has to protect the guy.

Ash could also tell that Eiji was tipsy because now the staring was blatant, and the other man just had this dreamy look on his face, like he was hanging onto every word that Ash was saying. Of course, Ash didn’t mind, he found it amusing and sweet too.

Then Eiji says something surprising.

“I want to go home with you!”

Ash does a double take. “You want to go home with me?”

Eiji just nods, like the request didn’t just come out of nowhere.

Ash laughs. “Eiji, are you drunk?” 

“Nooooo… I don’t think so. No.” Eiji slurs his words and laughs, and yeah he is definitely drunk. Maybe the last few shots were too strong. Not for Ash though, just for Eiji.

Like a switch has been flipped in Eiji’s mind, he becomes looser. Suddenly, Eiji is scooting a lot closer to Ash. No personal space kind of close. Then before Ash knows it or can even say anything there Eiji is; hugging his arm, and oh boy he is not letting go.

Ash gently tries to shake his arm free, but Eiji just holds on tighter. Usually Ash would find this kind of thing annoying from people he just met at the bar. But coming from Eiji, it’s just endearing. It kind of alarms Ash how quickly he’s warmed up to Eiji, but he pushes down the thought to deal with the matter at hand, or rather, arm.

“Let me go home with you!” Eiji whines, and Ash has to think fast.

“Alright, alright calm down. Look, I had a good time tonight. Did you?” He asks.

“Uh-huh!” Eiji grins, giggling.

“That’s good, but you know. We had fun already, so I can’t take you home tonight.” Eiji is gonna say something, probably whine again, but Ash continues. “But tell you what, I’ll get you home, and I’ll give you my number, okay?”

Eiji smiles and Ash thinks about how he needs to stop doing that because it’s really distracting. “Yeah!”

With that confirmation, Ash gets Eiji to give him his phone, so he can put in his number. Ash is amazed that Eiji doesn’t even have a passcode on his phone or anything. He’s gonna have to talk to him about that later.

Right now though, he manages to coax out Eiji’s address out and yup, he’s still clinging onto him. 

Ash calls Shorter on his phone to ask for help taking Eiji home.

...

“I’m the best wingman ever.” Shorter announces, and Ash snorts.

“You got lucky this time. But I will say you found this guy, I don’t think he was gonna make it out of that bar alone if he was by himself.” Ash says.

“Yeah, yeah, but come on, give me this one! I mean, just look at you two.” Shorter laughs.

Ash had gotten into the backseat with Eiji (presumably to make sure he didn’t die on the ride home). As soon as they got in and were ready to go, Eiji had fallen asleep on Ash’s shoulder.

Now Ash couldn’t move, because damn, he looked even more adorable than before. Eiji’s breaths are quiet and even. He snuggles every now and then into his shoulder and Ash is silently asking for help. 

This is not how Ash expected the night to go; but he’s glad it ended up this way.

They eventually make it to the address that Eiji had given, and now Ash just has to wake him up.

He thanks whatever deity is out there that Eiji wakes up with just a few gentle shakes. Eiji blinks up at Ash, and he pushes down any more feelings that provoked. 

With the help of Shorter, they manage to get Eiji on his feet and into the apartment complex. It takes a while for Eiji to guide them to the right apartment and to take out his keys, but they get there eventually.

Ash speaks up. “Hey Shorter, I’ll meet you at the car. I can handle the rest. Be right there, I just want to make sure he doesn’t die.”

Shorter winks and waggles his eyebrows. “Sure thing boss! I’ll give you some alone time.” Ash rolls his eyes, and Shorter goes, whistling a happy tune because he’s clearly enjoying this whole situation.

So, Ash helps Eiji into the apartment and somehow separates the two of them. Eiji is in the middle of a laughing fit, but he stops when Ash speaks up again.

“Alright, I’m going to go now. Just drink water and sleep alright? Don’t forget to lock the door.”

Eiji smiles and nods. “I won’t forget!” He’s swaying a bit, but otherwise seems okay.

Ash waves him goodbye, but before he walks out the door, Eiji stops him by grabbing his hand. 

“Thank you, Ash. I—I think you’re cute too. Handsome.” Ash’s feels his face warm up, and he smiles.

“You’re something else Eiji. Thank you too.” He says, and they part ways. Ash only leaves when he’s sure he hears the click of the door being locked shut.

...

In the car ride back Ash tells Shorter, “Thanks man, I owe you one. I was afraid he was gonna pass out eventually if he didn’t get out of that bar.”

“It’s no problem dude. Don’t even worry about it. You can pay me back by letting me know how this goes.”

“How what goes?”

Shorter laughs. “You know. I mean, the whole, _protecting the virtue of this guy I just met at this bar because I think he’s adorable_ thing? There’s gonna be more right?”

Ash punches him in the shoulder and Shorter just laughs even harder.

...

When Eiji comes to in the morning, he panics a little bit.

He’s at home, and he has no idea how he even got there. His head hurts, and he’s thirsty more than anything else; and it’s just not good.

Why did I get so drunk? He laments, because he’s usually good at stopping before he reaches his limit.

He realizes that it was… that guy’s fault. Ash. He was so distracted with the fact that he was actually talking to him that he lost track of how much he was drinking. He also wanted to look cool, so he just drank whenever Ash did, and that was a mistake.

Eiji just hopes nothing bad happened. 

He checks to see that everything is in order. His wallet, his keys, his clothes… and yeah everything is okay. He sighs in relief.

His phone buzzes and he startles a bit. He looks for his phone and finds it haphazardly thrown amongst the bed sheets. When he checks the notification, he lets out a slightly embarrassing noise.

Because right there, on the message it says. _Ash Lynx_. Sent a few hours ago, 9am. It’s just one message that reads: 

_Hey, it’s Ash from the bar. Hope ur feeling okay. U were cute back at the bar. Want to meet up again sometime?_

Eiji bites back a scream, and then he does scream.

It takes him a while to get the composure to send a rely back. He double-checks and triple-checks his text before finally hitting send and collapsing back into bed. He hopes he's not coming on too strong, but at the same time he needs Ash to... know.  
...

Ash gets a message back from _Eiji_. 

_Hi!! It's Eiji. Eiji Okumura. Thnx for helping me!! I'm sorry you had to see that. I would love to get lunch with you. Maybe come back to my place again?"_

**Author's Note:**

> So here's my first Banana Fish AU! Really just an AU where nothing bad ever happens and they're all just a bunch of young twenty-somethings doing their own thing. I just really like the idea of Eiji gay panicking and being a happy drunk. Also God, I love Shorter Wong.
> 
> Who knows, there might be a sequel or a second part. 
> 
> Title taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 20. It's pretty gay, so I highly recommend looking it up. 
> 
> Beta read by [meteor_ready](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteor_ready)! Us screaming at each other on line is a huge help I love it.
> 
> Also shout out to my friend Clara! This fic grew out of our convo and love for AshEiji, so thank you.
> 
> Talk to me (or even send requests!) to my tumblr [@sadbananafish](https://sadbananafish.tumblr.com) or my twitter [@bananafishings](https://twitter.com/bananafishings).


End file.
